MONSEY HEROES: Kurdish Judge Cancels Death Penalty for Binyamin Chasin, Achieved With Crucial Help From Monsey Askanim

By Y.M. Lowy

In a breakthrough years in the making, the death sentence hanging over Binyamin Chasin was officially annulled this week by an Iraqi Kurdish judge after a successful sulcha (peace settlement). The development ends nearly a decade of fear and uncertainty for Chasin, who has been imprisoned in Iraq since 2015, and it came thanks in large part to Monsey askanim who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to save his life.

The story began in 2014, when Chasin, who was born in Iraqi Kurdistan, returned to visit his elderly grandparents. A tragic misunderstanding during a local dispute led to his arrest and, years later, a death sentence by hanging.

For years, activists and askanim around the world tried to help, including a group of Monsey askanim who stepped in to push things forward. R’ Meyer Tzvi Tauber, a respected community businessman and Askan from Monsey, Askan R' Hershy Gottdiener, and Askan R’ Shimon Rolnitzky joined the mission, working together with others to negotiate directly with officials and community leaders in Iraq and Kurdistan.

The askanim led a successful campaign just a few months ago, during which Klal Yisroel united to raise the nearly $300,000 needed to bring this case to its long-awaited breakthrough.

After months of complex discussions, the victim’s family agreed to accept a sulcha, a local form of forgiveness that allows the court to cancel a death verdict once the family withdraws its demand for execution. Earlier this week, a delegation personally traveled to Iraq to ensure the agreement was completed properly and the settlement funds were safely delivered.

With the sulcha finalized, the document was presented to the Kurdish court, which then officially annulled the death sentence. Chasin’s punishment was reduced to a minimal prison term, paving the way, be’ezras Hashem, for his full release soon. “We want to thank International Attorney Allan Lowy for his tremendous work and support on this mission. Without him, this could not have been accomplished,” the askanim told Rockland Daily.

Following the news, Chasin was visited in prison by the Satmar Dayan of Antwerp. Deeply emotional, he recited the bracha Hatov V’hameitiv and expressed his commitment to return to a full Torah life once freed.

One of the involved Askonim, R’ Shimon Rolnitzky, shares with Rockland Daily, “I want to thank Rockland Daily for helping us in this project as the media, and their sister print publication, Dee Voch/Shrift magazine for being the first publisher that took in this story. They covered it really well. I can tell it was a real mitzvah because a real mitzvah comes hard. The Shrift brought this article in and it got things rolling like a domino effect, one after the other. When I heard how challenging the case was, I realized it would be difficult to overcome - and that’s when I knew it was a true mitzvah of pidyon shvuyim. There were many nisyonos along the way and still more hardships ahead, but Baruch Hashem, we got this far.”